Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Almost immediately out of college, Jess Martin had a
best-selling novel, but has been struggling with a follow-up ever since. His wife Clare is also a would-be writer but
has taken a job as a copy editor to pay the bills and support the couple’s
Brooklyn lifestyle while Jess continues to write. Nearly out of money and options, the couple decides
to move to the Hudson Valley where surely life will cost less money. The only situation they are able to afford,
however, is as caretakers for the rundown home, River House, known locally
thanks to some graffiti as Riven House, of an almost reclusive author, Alden
Montague, who was a former mentor to both Jess and Clare. At first, the situation seems almost too good
to be true: Jess is writing again, and it looks as if the young couple will be
able to get back on their feet financially and get their marriage back on
track. Soon, though, the dark, oddly
octagonal house with hidden rooms and passages begins to show its true self and
the abandoned rooms begin to give up their secrets including ghostly figures
and crying babies all tied to long ago family secrets. As Clare slowly begins her descent into
darkness, she is certain she is being haunted, but can’t understand why no one
believes her. This creepy, dark, twisty
novel is full of all kinds of gothic goodness as secrets are revealed and
Clare’s madness turns to clarity. A
modern day read for Mary Stewart and Shirley Jackson fans.

When Barbara Feinman Todd began her career in journalism in
1982 as a copy assistant at The
Washington Post journalism---and politics---was a much different animal
than it is today. Todd thrived on the
newsroom atmosphere, which in those days included the smell of ink, newsprint,
and cigarettes, the clatter of typewriters and news feeds, and people shouting
and running in an out, an energy not found in most modern newsrooms. After working for Bob Woodword at the Post, Todd continued as his researcher
for his book Veil and inadvertently
fell into a career ghosting for big politico names such as Ben Bradlee, Carl
Bernstien, and Hillary Clinton though she was rarely given credit for her assistance,
particularly in the case of Mrs. Clinton, a slight which led to a series of
events and revelations that became public in Woodword’s book detailing the
Clinton White House. Used to being in
the shadows and behind the scenes, Todd’s memoir often reads like a tell-all
about the closed door politics in not only the news world but in the White
House and Capitol. Heavily involved in
journalism at Georgetown (where Feinman Todd is the founding Journalism
Director) and the Pearl Project, having co-authored an eBook on fellow
journalist Daniel Pearl’s kidnapping and murder, Feinman Todd’s story, at
times, has a bit of a “poor me” tone, though in the end she owns up and admits
she made her own choices and those choices led her to where she is today, even
though the path may not have been as exciting as she would have liked it to
have been.

The Baker’s Secret by Stephen P. Kiernan

World War II has taken its toll on Europe and especially on
the small Normandy village of Vergers in this familiar yet dependable
novel. The town is occupied by German
soldiers and food and supplies are in short supply, yet they are buoyed by the
hope and sustenance provided to them by their young village baker. Emmanuelle, Emma, began her apprenticeship to
Ezra Kuchen the village baker at thirteen.
Now twenty-two, she has seen the horrors of war, including Ezra being
forced to suffer the indignity of wearing a yellow star and being forced away
from his shop at gunpoint, taken away from the village never to be seen or
heard from again. Taking over for her
mentor, Emma bakes her baguettes for the soldiers and manages to bake enough
bread to share with the villagers and is able to established an underground
network allowing for her to trade for the supplies the villagers need to
survive until the Allied troops arrive to save them. Many of the usual World War II are present
here, the characters often stereotypical, but overall, Emma’s tenacity and the
resilience of her neighbors provides an uplifting look into a small village
shortly before the D-Day invasion.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

American Delaney Nichols has settled into her new role as a
bookseller’s assistant at the Cracked Spine, a bookshop specializing in rare
books and ephemera in Edinburgh. Her
current task is to retrieve an “Oor Wullie” comic book from a man at Castle
Doune for her boss Edwin MacAlister. At
Castle Doune Delaney finds the man she is to meet dead; while waiting for the
police to arrive, Delaney spies the Oor Wullie stuffed into a crevice; without
thinking, Delaney snatches up the valuable book and secrets it away to
Edwin. Once back at the Cracked Spine
things get complicated as Edwin learns the identity of the dead man, the son of
the man, Gordon, a man who Edwin had been close to as a young man, a man who
died while he was out with friends, including Edwin. Even more startling, Gordon appears in the
Cracked Spine very much alive and confesses his deceit to Edwin. As Gordon’s story begins to unfold it becomes
clear that there is more to the story than he’s admitting to, something that
may have gotten his son killed. The
further into the past Delaney delves, the more secrets she encounters and the
ore danger she puts herself in as these secrets are revealed until she finds
herself with a killer in her midst.
Strong characters and a chilly Northern Scottish setting combined with a
twisty plot full of secrets and intrigue make this literary mystery one worth
spending some time with.

The Romance Reader’s Guide to Life by Sharon Pywell

Lilly and Neave are sisters less than a year apart and in
spite of their different personalities---or because of them---they grow up to
be a formidable team: Lilly the outgoing beauty and Neave, quiet and bookish,
for whom a penny dreadful The Pirate
Lover becomes a how-to-guide. After
World War II, the sisters find themselves out of work as the soldiers return
home and the pair decides to create a home sales beauty company, a business
that takes off beyond their wildest dreams.
As they are reaching the pinnacle of their success, Lilly disappears and
Neave is reasonably certain what happened and is terrified that she might be
next. A good story is made more
interesting by an unusual structure and various points of view that demonstrate
that universal truths are just that---no matter in what form they are found.

The Forever Summer by Jamie Brenner

Marin’s life seems to be all in order: she’s on the fast
track to partner at her Manhattan law firm, he’s engaged to a Wall Street mogul
and her Main Line Philadelphia parents are attentive without being
smothering. Marin’s thirtieth birthday
celebration, however, proves to be the catalyst of things unraveling for
everyone: Marin’s parents announce their intention to divorce; Marin’s father
admits to having an affair with a younger woman, and Marin breaks the news that
she has broken off her engagement because she is in love with another man. A surprise phone call from Rachel, a young
woman claiming to be Marin’s half-sister and a misstep on her job that causes
her to lose her job sets Marin reeling.
When Rachel arrive in Manhattan on her way to Cape Cod to visit the
grandmother neither she nor Marin knew, Marin’s mother Blythe is also in town
and the three set off on an ill-conceived road trip that turns into a summer
full of revelation and healing, not just for the three women but also for a
family with long held grudges and secrets.
This story of families in crisis and families healing and recreating
themselves is as welcoming and refreshing as the first breeze of summer.

The Outrun: A Memoir by Amy Liptrot

In the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland, an
outrun, according to the author, is a uncultivated field with rough grazing at
the furthest reaches of a farm. This is
the land to which Amy Liptrot decided to return, the land of her birth, after
moving to London to escape life on the farm and her father's mental illness,
but where she lived life on the edge, drinking heavily and finding herself in
rehab. Amy returns home to reflect and
recover and along the way discovers that maybe home, even in the most northern
reaches of the world, may be the best place.
This gorgeously written memoir is not only a moving story of a young
woman's recovery but an homage to a rough land that renews hope and invigorates
life, offering a new perspective on everything.

Miss You by Kate Eberlen

At eighteen Tess’s life is spread out before her: she and
her best friend Doll have spent the summer traveling through Italy and Tess has
just secured a spot at University where she will read literature. While in Florence, Tess glimpses Gus who is
traveling with his parents as the three heal from the death of Gus’s older
brother Ross seven months earlier. When
Tess returns home she is faced with her mother’s imminent death from cancer;
from this point forward, Tess’s life will take on a much different shape than
she expected, taking on the responsibility of her five-year-old sister Hope who
has her own problems to overcome. Over
the next sixteen years, Tess and Gus lead separate lives, each often feeling
that something just isn’t quite right and happiness is just out of each’s
grasp. As their paths crisscross,
sometime with glancing blows, they never truly properly meet up again until
fate decides the time is right. Will the
pair be able to overcome their pasts and finally realize their destinies? Heart breaking and achingly beautiful, this
story with lovely characters is for anyone who has every hoped and never lost
hope. Book groups will find much to
discuss in these pages.

Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout

In a group of vignettes centering around now best-selling
author Lucy Barton, the residents in and around Amgash, Illinois recall and
re-evaluate the choices they’ve made in their lives and the effect those
choices have had not only on their lives but those around them and their
community. After Tommy Guptill’s dairy
farm barns burned down, he moved his family to town and took a job as a school
janitor where he kept watch over the student body, but in particular over the
odd and lonely Lucy Barton. Now in his
seventies, Tommy visits Lucy’s brother who lives in isolation and shares his
burden with Tommy, who, now in possession of this knowledge must make a choice
to forgive or not. A high school
counselor finds solace and inspiration in Lucy’s latest book and unwittingly
uses her new insight to help Lucy’s niece.
Lucy returns to her hometown after a seventeen-year absence and visits
with her siblings: an attempt at a reconciliation, a chance to assuage her
guilt for leaving the small town or an attempt to rebuild the family that was
always broken? Parents and children, their own and those of others, and
relationships in all their various forms are explored and revealed in this
honest and ultimately uplifting novel that will make you believe, Anything IS
Possible.

Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Just after Jon Casey marries Wailer in August of 1980, the
recent college graduates, along with some of their friends slip into the now
closed Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia but not everyone
emerges. Locked in, one of them
disappears and no one is sure what happened to her. Thirty-five years later, a skeleton is found
in the prison and each of these friends still harbors a secret, some of which
could prove the innocence of now celebrity chef Casey as it is his then new
bride’s skeleton that has been found and he is charged with her murder. Judith Carrigan was with the group that night
and knows she can help clear Casey’s name but at what cost? Judith, above all the friends, has secrets
that she knows if revealed could cost her the life she has built, including her
adoring husband and son. This rich novel
explores many themes including love, loyalty to the past as well as the
present, identity and what is worth keeping hidden and what is worth revealing
and at what cost each.

Gone Without a Trace by Mary Torjussen

After attending a business conference, Hannah is eager to
return home to share the news of her impending promotion with Matt Stone, her
live-in boyfriend of four years.
Hannah’s joy quickly turns to terror when she returns home to an empty
house---empty of everything that was evidence that Matt had every been part of
her life; in addition, matt has scrubbed social media of his presence and has
disconnected his mobile phone. Hannah is
stunned by turns and hurt and afraid for what may have happened to Matt. Her best friend Katie encourages Hannah to
grieve for the relationship she thought she and Matt had and then to move on
with her life. Then Hannah begins to
feel she is being stalked and begins to receive messages that she is certain
are from Matt. Little by little, Hannah
begins descending into a darkness as all the truths start to unravel and a
different tale begins to emerge, one that is equally chilling and disturbing
but with a different slant, making this dark debut one to devour yet savor at
the same time.

The latest book by Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark Awards
winning author explores families, those we are born into and those we create,
and how we cope and escape when things become unbearable and how we return when
there are no other options left us. Anna
Winger lives with her thirteen-year-old son Joshua in Park, a small Indiana
town where they live a relatively quiet life and where Anna is hiding out from
something unspoken in her past. Anna is
a handwriting analyst and takes jobs mostly on referral from her contact in law
enforcement, Kent; she analyzes job applications and ransom notes, and even
love letters, advising what type of person might have written them. When a two-year-old boy Aidan is kidnapped,
his mother missing and his babysitter dead, Anna is called in to read a note
left by whoever took the young boy, but she is met with a bit of resistance and
skepticism by the local police force and feels there is something that is being
kept from her, either intentionally or unintentionally, and begins to
investigate on her own. When Joshua goes
missing, Anna must face the things from which she has been running and confront
her own past in order to find her son and bring him back safely to her. This story not only has a well-constructed
plot with sympathetic characters, it also packs an emotional punch as Anna’s story
is slowly revealed and as a community searches for two lost boys hoping that it
is not too late to save them…and their mothers who might not even realize they
need saving.

Build a Better World

The 11th Annual Adult Summer Reading Club has come to a close.

The club's 157 members have read a total of 1,515 books!

Thank you, all, for your enthusiastic participation.

Quote to Inspire

"Fiction, imaginative work that is, is not dropped like a pebble upon the ground, as science may be; fiction is like a spider’s web, attached ever so lightly perhaps, but still attached to life at all four corners."~Virginia Woolf

11th Annual

To see a larger image of this graph, look through the member reviews. It will usually be posted on Friday afternoons.

How to Use this Blog:

To post a review for a book, please submit it via the "Finished a Book" link from the club's webpage: http://www.hclibrary.us/asrc.htm.

Because all posts & comments must be approved by the library, and because the librarians sometimes take summer vacations too, there will be a delay before you see your submission on the blog. Please be patient; your review will appear.